What is "raoul"

Raoul is a French variant of the male given name Ralph.

"Raoul" is both the second and the fifth single from Not Accepted Anywhere, the first album by the Welsh band The Automatic. The single was released twice, first on 27 March 2006 and again on 8 January 2007 at the decision of the band's record labels Polydor and B-Unique.

Raoul EP is an 8-track EP by Welsh band The Automatic featuring the original versions of singles " Recover" and " Raoul", plus B-sides from the "Monster", "Raoul" and "Recover" singles. It was originally released for the European market, but has since been made available in the UK, making it more convenient for fans to get hold of the rarer tracks all on CD. Raoul is the owner of a sandwich shop in Cardiff, who would make the band's sandwiches

Raoul, founder of Vaucelles Abbey or Saint Raoul (a/k/a San Raul, St. Radolph or Dom Rodulphe) (+1152) is a saint of the Catholic Church who founded the famous monastery of Vaucelles in France. Raoul was an English Benedictine monk who became a follower of St. Bernard of Clairvaux (who founded the Cistercian order).

St. Bernard sent Raoul, a "fervent monk", in 1132 to found a monastery at Vaucelles, located in the northwest of France, near Cambrai. By 1145, Raoul had succeeded in building the Abbaye de Vaucelles, which over the years grew to hold several hundred monks and became the most largest Cistercian abbey of Europe. The restored cloister remains today. Raoul served as abbot for twenty years until his death in 1152. With his monks he dedicated himself to prayer, reading of the sacred books and to teaching agriculture.

As part of his devotions, Saint Raoul said the following prayers daily: (1) Miserere: Have mercy on me, Lord, I am a sinner, (2) the Alleluia and (3) the Te Deum or Thanks be to God. Blessed be God.

Canonized for his rectitude and austerity in 1179, St. Raoul can be celebrated liturgically on December 30.

The Raoul was a Byzantine aristocratic family of Norman origin, prominent during the Palaiologan period. From the 14th century on, they were also known as Ral[l]es . The feminine form of the name was Raoulaina .

The exact origin of the family is unknown. It has been suggested that it was founded by Rudolph Peel de Lan, a Norman who was sent as ambassador to Emperor Nikephoros III Botaneiates (r. 1078–1081) and whom Anna Komnene records as "Raoul" in her history. However, no source mentions a defection to the Byzantines. Another view holds that Raoul was another ambassador sent in 1080, and brother of Roger "the son of Dagobert", who defected to the Byzantines at the same time and forced Raoul to flee to the imperial court as well.

The first member of the family appears in 1108, when "Humbert, son of Graoul [Raoul]", a councillor of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos (r. 1081–1118) was part of the Byzantine delegation that signed the Treaty of Devol. The family is less prominent during the remainder of the century, although they were by all accounts prosperous landowners, with large estates in Thrace, and members of the imperial aristocracy.

In 1195, the sebastos Constantine Raoul supported the usurpation of Alexios III Angelos (r. 1195–1203). His possible son, the protovestiarios Alexios Raoul, was a senior military leader under John III Vatatzes (r. 1222–1254), but was not favoured by Theodore II Laskaris (r. 1254–1258), who stripped him of his title and imprisoned his four sons. The family thus sided with Michael VIII Palaiologos (r. 1259–1282). He appointed Alexios' eldest son, John Raoul Petraliphas, as protovestiarios, while another, Manuel, was made pinkernes. Manuel and a third brother, Isaac, supported Patriarch Arsenios Autoreianos in opposing the Union of the Churches however, and were arrested and blinded. John in the meantime had wed Theodora Palaiologina Kantakouzene, who after his death became a nun and one of the best-known literati of Constantinople in the last decades of the 13th century. Under Andronikos II Palaiologos (r. 1282–1328), their son Alexios was megas domestikos and one of his sons megas stratopedarches.

Another Alexios Raoul was megas domestikos after 1333, but more notable is the writer and official Manuel Raoul, who spent part of his career in the Despotate of the Morea. The family declined after the mid-14th century, except for its Moreote branch, which flourished and was active up to the time of the Ottoman conquest. The brothers Thomas and George Rallis led a rebellion against the Ottomans in 1458/1460. Other members of the family accompanied princess Sophia Palaiologina to Muscovy, where they served as diplomats.